Prenatal diagnosis using fetal cells enriched from maternal blood.

The ability to use fetal cells enriched from the blood of pregnant women for prenatal diagnosis has been a long-sought goal for those pursuing a non-invasive alternative to current methods, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Several new developments, which rely either on fluorescence in situ hybridization or the combination of single-cell manipulation and subsequent polymerase chain reaction practices, which are common to the field of preimplantation genetics, have been tested. We discuss the significance of these developments and the obstacles that still have to be surmounted before this technology becomes available in a broad diagnostic use. The research in the field yielded important observations regarding the traffic of cells between the fetus and the mother, which may provide a new insight into the development of disorders such as preeclampsia and the associated HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets) syndrome.